“He has but to look upon you with adoration and respect, which he already does, and the Dellish will adore you, Farah. Do not fear,” Silence urged. “Aunt Mercy and Uncle Wilmer, my mother and father too, they are not like True, and the people of Wodell know it. He is of royal blood, ’tis true. But he is of them, and they know that too.” Silence got closer to Farah. “And Mercy should heed that. You are from Firenze, but you could be from the moon, and if True wanted you, the people of Wodell would want you too.”

“Truly?” Farah asked.

Silence nodded. “Truly.” She smiled again. “And truly, I love this for you. You will have a grand and wonderous adventure, Farah, after all you’ve endured. And True will be thrilled he is the one who gets to give it to you.”

“I had looked forward to this, for True seemed keen to have it, but I now look forward to it all the more,” Farah said, moving them all so they’d start walking again.

“You should. The home of my birth is charming and second only to The Enchantments in being filled with magic,” Silence told her. “With True as your guide, you have no hope but to fall in love.”

“I already find it very beautiful,” Farah decreed.

I looked to my right to see Wallace and Luther both walking, and scanning, but their backs were straighter, their chests more puffed out.

Their future queen was becoming enamored with their land.

And their future king.

And they liked it.

Brilliant.

Things had not been going all that well, I sensed, for any of us.

Or amongst all of us.

And now we were parting.

I got to go home, something I greatly looked forward to.

Silence and Farah, I had worried, were facing things they wished not to face.

I felt this way no longer.

Silence seemed again lively and engaged, as she had before the attack on the palace.

And the veil of grief had not completely subsided, as it wouldn’t for some time.

But Farah’s smiles were coming freer, even freer than before her mother died.

And the distance between my two sisters was gone.

So we would all be apart.

Then we would all be together, with Ha-Lah again completing us.

But at least for now, all was well.

52

The Allies

Prince Cassius

Fifty Miles Inside the Southern Border

WODELL

Prince Cassius stood with Macrinus and Antonius in the forest on the opposite side of the moors to the wood where the women were taking a stroll, and all three men stared at the oddly transparent witch who was upright, but equally oddly floating above the earth before them.

“They have been waiting many a year for just this chance, Your Grace,” Fern promised. “They will be ready.”